fraxinus

See also: Fraxinus

Latin

FWOTD – 16 October 2012

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *fraksinos, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰr̥Hǵ-s-inos, adjective of *bʰerHǵós (“birch”). Cognate with, भूर्ज (bhūrjá, “Himalayan birch”) (Betula utilis), English birch, Russian берёза (berjóza).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈfrak.si.nus/, [ˈfräks̠ɪnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfrak.si.nus/, [ˈfräksinus]

• Audio (Classical):

  (file)

fraxinus (ash tree)

Noun

fraxinus f (genitive fraxinī); second declension

1. an ash tree
   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 16.30:

     montes et valles diligit abies, robur, castaneae, tilia, ilex, cornus. aquosis montibus gaudent acer, fraxinus, sorbus, tilia, cerasus.

     Mountains and valleys are favoured by fir, oak, chestnut, linden, scarlet oak, dogwood. Wet mountains abound in maple, ash, service-tree, linden, [and] cherry.

2. an ashen spear or javelin

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fraxinus	fraxinī
Genitive	fraxinī	fraxinōrum
Dative	fraxinō	fraxinīs
Accusative	fraxinum	fraxinōs
Ablative	fraxinō	fraxinīs
Vocative	fraxine	fraxinī

Derived terms

• fraxineus
• *fraxinētum

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: frapsin
  • Romanian: frasin, frapsăn — regional, Banat, фрасин (frasin) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling
• Italo-Romance:
  • Central Italian: frassu, frasano
  • Italian: frassino
  • Neapolitan: frasso, frassono
  • Sicilian: fràscinu, fràssinu
    • → Maltese: fraxxnu
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: frassin
  • Ladin: frasen
  • Ligurian: frasciu
  • Piedmontese: frasu, fraisu
  • Romansch: fraissen, fraischen, fressen
  • Venetan: fràsene, fràsino
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Franco-Provençal: frâno, frîno, freno
  • Old French: fresne
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Aragonese: fraxino, fraxen, freixen

    Ribagorçan: freixe

  • Catalan: freixe
  • Occitan: fraisse
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: freisnu
  • Leonese: freisnu
  • Extremaduran: fresnu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: freixo, freyxo
    • Fala: fresnu
    • Galician: freixo
    • Portuguese: freixo
  • Old Spanish: fresno, freisno, frexno, frexeno
    • Spanish: fresno
      • → Tagalog: presno
• Insular Romance:
  • Old Corsican: *frassu
    • Corsican: frassu
  • Sardinian: frassu
• Ancient borrowings:
  • → Albanian: frashër
• Learned borrowings:
  • →? Greek: φράξος (fráxos)
  • → Interlingua: fraxino

Adjective

fraxinus (feminine fraxina, neuter fraxinum); first/second-declension adjective

1. of ash wood; ashen
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.677–678:

     […] certe si fraxinus esset, fulva colore foret […]

     surely if it were of ash, it would have a yellow color

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	fraxinus	fraxina	fraxinum		fraxinī	fraxinae	fraxina
Genitive	fraxinī	fraxinae	fraxinī		fraxinōrum	fraxinārum	fraxinōrum
Dative	fraxinō		fraxinō		fraxinīs
Accusative	fraxinum	fraxinam	fraxinum		fraxinōs	fraxinās	fraxina
Ablative	fraxinō	fraxinā	fraxinō		fraxinīs
Vocative	fraxine	fraxina	fraxinum		fraxinī	fraxinae	fraxina

References

• AIS map 588 'frassino'
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “fraxĭnus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume
  , page 771

Further reading

• “fraxinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fraxinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fraxinus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “fraxinus”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly